By Thomas Fuller

Published: November 13, 2002

BRUSSELS:—
European Union officials struggled Tuesday to explain an embarrassing and bizarre interpreting error during the visit of President Vladimir Putin that included the omission of parts of an outburst during which the Russian leader apparently threatened to castrate those wanting to become "Islamic radicals."

It remained unclear Tuesday why the Russian interpreters — who were all members of the president's entourage — failed to translate a significant portion of Putin's angry remarks.

Putin spoke during a stormy news conference that followed a summit meeting between Russia and the European Union.

Answering a question from a French reporter about the war in Chechnya, the Russian president said that all Christians and allies of the United States were threatened by Chechen separatists. Reporters in the room were then given this interpretation of Putin's next sentences:

"If you want to become an Islamic radical and if you'd like to get your circumcision, please come to Moscow. We are a multiconfessional, multiethnic nation. Please come. You are welcome and everything and everyone is tolerated in Moscow."

But according to a version taken from Russian television footage and translated by The New York Times, Putin actually said: "If you want to become a complete Islamic radical and are ready to undergo circumcision, then I invite you to Moscow. We are a multidenominational country. We have specialists in this question as well. I will recommend that he carry out the operation in such a way that after it nothing else will grow."

Circumcision is a rite of passage for Muslim boys but not for most Christian boys.

Newspapers in Russia on Tuesday reported the president's unusual words, according to news agencies. The daily Vremya Novosti ran the headline "Invitation to a circumcision" and the Gazeta daily ran one that said, "Putin suggests Europe get circumcised."

One Russian official present at the summit meeting Monday, who wished to remain anonymous, speculated that the interpreters had omitted sentences because they were not accustomed to translating medical terms.

Whatever the reasons, the incident highlights the language challenges for the European Union as it takes on 10 new members — and becomes neighbors with countries like Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

With 21 official languages in the expanded Union, the number of possible interpreting combinations will grow to 420 from 110 today.

Meeting space will also be limited because of the need for 21 interpreting booths in each venue.

By 2004, when the Union is due to accept its new members, there will be only four meeting rooms in Brussels capable of simultaneous translation into each official language, according to Ian Andersen, a spokesman for the European Union's main interpreting service.

Andersen said official EU translators are normally used when foreign leaders visit Brussels. In the case of Putin's visit, however, the Russian president's entourage had insisted that Russian-to-English interpretation be carried out by their own people, Andersen said.

"The claim from the Russian Foreign Ministry and the prime minister's office was that only a Russian could really understand the saltiness of a true Russian speaker," Andersen said.

"We rarely give in to pressure," Andersen added. "But we didn't want to make a diplomatic crisis to the extent that Putin perhaps wouldn't come if we didn't allow his interpreters to work."

The European Union currently spends about €700 million ($707 million) a year on its interpreting and translating services, but that amount will increase sharply once new members join.